President Edvard Beneš and the Czechoslovak Crises of 1938 and 1948

Abstract

When Edvard Beneš became the second President of Czechoslovakia in 1935, he inherited an office which was constitutionally rather weak, but which, due to the fact that its first incumbent was Czechoslovakia’s Founding Father, Tomáš G. Masaryk, was endowed with a prestige and influence well beyond the limitations written into the country’s 1920 Constitution. However, had Beneš ascended to the presidency under normal circumstances, its political importance would have undoubtedly decreased. After all, despite all his merits, Beneš was then a rather controversial figure and did not enjoy the kind of authority, respect and trust which the overwhelming majority of the Czechoslovak people bestowed upon Masaryk.